After long wait, Neil Wagner gets called up to majors

Neil Wagner was close to giving up his baseball career at the start of this season when he found out he’d be going back to Double-A Midland, at the age of 27. He considered going back to finish his degree at North Dakota State. But A’s director of player development Keith Lieppman gave Wagner a pep talk, and the right-hander decided to give it one more shot.

Today, after six years in the minors, Wagner is in the big leagues, called up by Oakland to be a middle-innings reliever. For Wagner, the best part of a great day is that it comes at Cleveland – he was drafted by the Indians and spent four-plus years in the organization.

“I was with one of the Indians lower affiliates a few years ago right near here and we’d always drive by this ballpark,” Wagner said. “So close, and so far away. … So of all the places to be today!”

Wagner played with many of the current Indians, and he once lived with tonight’s starter, Jeanmar Gomez.

A’s manager Bob Melvin said that he’s heard about Wagner’s plus fastball, and he’ll probably try to work him in in a low-pressure situation (though that seldom seems possible given all the close games Oakland plays) and he’ll use him as the right-handed long reliever, with Josh Outman the left-handed long man.

Conor Jackson is 0 for his past 21, the longest hitless streak of his career.

“He just hasn’t had consistent at-bats since he got hurt,” Melvin said of Jackson’s neck stiffness earlier in the month. “Before that was probably his best stretch of production, and then he hurt his back, (Brandon) Allen came up and it was difficult to get him back in there. I don’t think Conor has got a hit since.”